Norway has marked ten years since Anders Breivik killed 77 people in the country’s worst ever massacre as church bells rang out across the country and the royal family paid their respects to the victims.
Crown Prince Haakon and Princess Ingrid Alexandra laid a wreath on Utoya island while King Harald and Queen Sonja attended a service in Oslo in memory of the many victims, most of them teenagers, to mark a decade since the horrific slaughter.
On July 22, 2011, right wing extremist Anders Breivik set off a bomb in the capital, Oslo, killing eight people, before heading to tiny Utoya island where he stalked and shot dead 69 members of the Labour Party’s youth wing while dressed in police uniform.
Describing himself as a patriot and militant nationalist, Breivik showed no remorse in his 2012 trial, where he dismissed the victims as traitors for supporting immigration.
His youngest victim was just 14 years old.
Norway’s Crown Prince Haakon and Princess Ingrid Alexandra lay flowers at a memorial as Norway marks ten years since the Oslo and Utoeya island bomb attack
Princess Ingrid Alexandra is pictured during a memorial service to mark a decade since the country’s worst peacetime massacre
People gather next to a memorial outside the Oslo Cathedral today in a service to honour the 77 vicitms of the horrific attack in 2011
Anders Breivik (pictured in 2017) is being held in prison after killing eight people in a bomb attack in Oslo before gunning down 69 more
Events were held around the country today, including a service in Oslo Cathedral that ended with the first peal of bells. Thousands of people gathered in the streets outside to mourn the 77 victims.
Arriving on crutches, 84-year-old King Harald took his seat for the service beside Queen Sonja at the front of Oslo Cathedral as the country observed a minute’s silence.
Speaking in front of 77 roses arranged into the shape of a heart, Jens Stoltenberg, Norway’s prime minister at the time of the attacks in 2011, told the congregation that ’10 years ago we met hatred with love, but the hatred is still there.’
At the time of the attacks, Breivik claimed to be the commander of a secret Christian military order plotting an anti-Muslim revolution in Europe but later described himself as a traditional neo-Nazi who prays to the Viking god Odin.
Stoltenberg, currently NATO Secretary General, said Breivik was ‘one of us.’
‘The perpetrator was a right-wing extremist. He misused Christian symbols. He grew up in our streets, belonged to the same religion and had the same skin color as the majority in this country. He was one of us,’ Stoltenberg said.
Norway’s Crown Princess Mette-Marit (left) and Princess Ingrid Alexandra (right) attend a memorial service on Thursday
Flowers are placed at the July 22 memorial on the island of Utoya near Oslo where Breivik killed many members of the Labour party’s youth wing
Norway’s King Harald and Queen Sonja attend a service at the Oslo Cathedral to mark a decade since the country’s worst peacetime attack
Norway’s Crown Prince Haakon (left) and Bishop Jan Otto Myrseth (right) are pictured outside the Hole Church where they honoured the victims today
Events were held around the country today, including a service in Oslo Cathedral that ended with the first peal of bells
‘But he is not one of us, who respects democracy. He is one of those who believe they have the right to kill for their political objectives.’
Around the country, people listened as emotional survivors read aloud the names of the 77 victims at a televised memorial event.
Some parents of the victims reflected on the way the country coped with the slaughter, and said that ‘time does not heal all wounds.’
Breivik was convicted of mass murder and terrorism in 2012 and given a 21-year prison sentence that can be extended for as long as he’s deemed dangerous to society.
Legal experts say he is likely be locked up for life.
‘(The victims) would be proud of how we reacted after the terror and how the rule of law stood strong,’ said Lisbeth Kristine Roeyneland, whose daughter Synne was murdered by Breivik. Roeyneland now runs the national support group for victims and families.
Norway’s Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit attend a memorial service in the Government Quarter
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg looks on after delivering his speech during the memorial service at Oslo Cathedral
From left, Raymond Johansen, Peggy Hessen, Thorbjorn Jagland, Prime Minister Erna Solberg, Jonas Gahr Store, Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette Marit lay floral tributes
Arriving on crutches, 84-year-old King Harald took his seat for the service beside Queen Sonja at the front of Oslo Cathedral as the country observed a minute’s silence
‘What would those who were so brutally and unfairly killed think of us now 10 years later? I think they would be sad to know that there still are survivors and bereaved with great needs,’ Roeyneland said.
‘I think they would be disappointed in seeing the public debate in many ways has moved in the wrong direction,’ she added. ‘I also think they would be proud of us. Proud of how we reacted in the days after the terrorist attack and how our state under the rule of law firmly stood its ground in the face of brutality.’
Astrid Hoem, a survivor from Utoya who now leads the AUF, the youth wing of the center-left Labor Party, said ‘we have not stopped the hatred’ and urged Norway to continue facing up to the racism in the country.
‘It is so brutal that it can be difficult to fathom,’ Hoem said. ‘But it’s our responsibility to do so. Because 10 years on, we must speak the truth. We haven’t stopped the hatred. Far-right extremism is still alive. The terrorist was one of us.’
Norway’s Prime Minister Erna Solberg, Crown Prince Haakon, Crown Princess Mette-Marit, Workers’ Youth League (AUF) leader Astrid Hoem, and a support group leader Lisbeth Kristine Roeyneland attend a memorial service
Around the country, people listened as emotional survivors read aloud the names of the 77 victims at a televised memorial event
Some parents of the victims reflected on the way the country coped with the slaughter, and said that ‘time does not heal all wounds’
She was speaking to a group of mourners, including Crown Prince Haakon, Prime Minister Erna Solberg, survivors and families of the victims.
Solberg said it hurt to think back ‘on that dark July day’ and added: ‘We must not leave hate unchallenged.’
‘The terror attack on the 22nd of July was an attack on our democracy,’ Solberg, Norway’s prime minister since 2013, said. ‘It was a politically motivated terrorist act towards the Labor Party, AUF and their ideas. But it wasn’t just an attack on a political movement. A whole nation was struck. But we rose again. But Norway was changed by an experience which still causes pain.’
King Harald was expected to speak during a commemoration in Oslo later Thursday. He was to be joined by past and present prime ministers and leaders of the Labor Party youth wing. Events will also take place on Utoya.